Fray Fray's page

My question is a bit of a puzzler because I have failed to find any rules regarding the situation. The setup goes like this:

My friend has a Clockwork Crab which has INT 1. He uses the item "Dust of Emulation" in order to allow the Crab to trick a Staff of Fire into allowing it to use Wall of Fire. He then leaves the Crab to Concentrate on Wall of Fire indefinitely.

My problem with this is that the Dust of Emulation only lasts for 1 hour, but by his reasoning, the Dust allowed the Crab to trick the Staff into allowing it to use Wall of Fire by emulating a Wizard Class feature which lets them Use Magic Devices, and therefore, since Dust of Emulation gives you an Auto-Succeed on the check to use it, the otherwise Int 1 Clockwork Crab can use the Staff to cast Wall of Fire and since Automatons don't get bored or lose focus, it can concentrate on the spell for as long as the Automaton can function.

I argue against this by stating that if the Crab could only use the magic device for a limited time under the effects of a Dust, it could only concentrate on the spell for as long as the Dust is in effect, which is One Hour. It doesn't make sense to me that an item could be used to grant you a concentration duration effect that you can keep up after the item has worn off.

Since he doesn't need to make any further concentration checks (unless the Crab is disturbed, but for this scenario we assume it is not), and he doesn't need to make any more UMD checks aside from the one he made to USE the Staff in the first place, he states that the Wall of Fire's spell duration is entirely up to however long the caster wants, whether or not if they suddenly lose the ability to do so in the first place.

My group is playing Rise of the Runelords, and I'm playing a Witch. I've built her very blaster style (A grievous sin as I'm told) and been having WAY more success at it than playing as a Debuffer and at battlefield control. My hexes are set up perfectly according to everyone who loves the witch.

Evil Eye, Cackle, Misfortune, Slumber.
S!!%, I even have Hex Vulnerability and Accursed Hex to make sure I can keep trying, but... I've lost the will to try.

See, here's the problem I face!
In my group, I'm not worried about controlling encounters. We have a Magus and a Fighter-Archer who deal more than enough damage to take out an enemy every turn or two, and have plenty of HP to keep up. Meanwhile, if they fail a few rolls, our Oracle heals them up pretty nice (give or take RNG-Gods f&!+ing her heal rolls). This means that average encounters are over in a couple rounds and I feel way better as a player contributing to the team by lobbing off Snowball or a few Crossbow bolts, rather than debuffing enemies that will die the next round regardless of the -2 I can put on them. If I can't land the hex in the round I cast it, there's no point in trying again because it's probably already dead.

Early into the campaign, I was sitting in the back TRYING to hex enemies as I was told my role would be and failing so miserably that the Cackle I gave off was more like an aggravated, miserable sobbing than a laugh.

We're now in the second chapter (Skinsaw Murders), and reaching the end... and I've used a hex maybe thrice. Always against bosses, because again, my party is built to not need the control with smaller encounters... But then this boss shows up and he's got GREAT Will Saves and strong AC, so now I can't hex him, I can't hit him with spells, I can't shoot him with arrows, so I just sit in the corner and groan as my team faces grueling combat.

I don't comprehend the praise Witches get! Strong enemies that need controlling are way out of your league, and weak enemies should be dispatched without problems that you're wasting turns Hexing them! I find Evil Eye is -OKAY- at best. A -2 to AC or Skills or Saves isn't great, and then at level 8 when it becomes a -4, everyone has scaled high enough that it's STILL just okay. Misfortune is cool too, but I never land it properly because their Will saves are good enough to overcome it without too much hassle. Slumber sounded great too, but all these Save or Die often result in a save and not a death.

My DM has gotten very angry with me because I don't use these allegedly perfect hexes CONSTANTLY... and I explain that I try, but fail at it constantly, so I don't want to really waste my turns any more and I want to be useful. I've built her as a Blaster because I figure if the hexes ever fail, I can just lob a fireball at them and win THAT way. And I seem to have had good foresight, because they're failing constantly or going to waste on such a weak enemy, but on the other hand, using Snowball or my Crossbow has killed more enemies than the Farcher! She's told me that if I won't use hexes, that she'll allow me to respec into a Wizard or a Sorcerer... and I'm just disappointed because I -WANTED- to play this class. It sounded lovely and I made the character's background and inspiration with it in mind. People made this class sound utterly broken and overpowered, but the experience I've gotten thus far is misery, frustration, and the promise of a better tomorrow which is always a step past the horizon.

Oh, and don't get me started on the number of enemies we've faced so far that are immune to compulsion and mind-effecting spells-- the Witches' forte.

I don't blame my DM in any way, shape, or form. She is doing just what she should as a DM. She's following the book and she's doing everything right, and the Magus and Farcher are having a good time. The Oracle is starting to get angry too because she's been reduced to a Heal Mill and the DM is actively working with her to allow her to step out of that path... but I remain in the corner as this Blaster Witch who's hexes never land. I don't know if she's buffed the CR of our encounters due to the sheer power output of our melee fighters in order to make it challenging, but it's made it fun for them and not for me. I'm told I should be laughing hysterically as everyone flails about uselessly, but... I'm not. I'm bathing in alcohol as I drown my sorrow for when they overcome my hex and slap the t~@~ off of the rest of the party.

Nor do I want to quit, at all. I just want to be a Witch and be as cool as everyone SAYS I should be but "A Witch is Not A Damage Dealer" seems to be the motto here-- one I vehemently oppose. As I stated above, I've slain more enemies with Snowball and my Crossbow than my Farcher has in our entire campaign thus far.

I just don't understand.